


The History of Magic

by asgxrdians



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, BAMF Natasha Romanov, Bisexual Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Carol Danvers & Bucky Barnes friendship, Enemies to Lovers, Everyone Is Gay, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Opposites Attract, Other, POV Carol Danvers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Slow Burn, Tutoring
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-01
Updated: 2019-11-12
Packaged: 2021-01-16 08:15:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,886
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21267884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asgxrdians/pseuds/asgxrdians
Summary: To start simply; Carol Danvers was a witch. A very talented witch if she did say so herself, one of the brightest in her year. Just as she had been throughout her first four years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but now she was about to enter her fifth and most crucial year yet – the year she took her OWLs.However, her exams may end up being the last thing on her mind after she begins tutoring Natasha Romanoff in History of Magic.





	1. Chapter 1

Carol Danvers sat on the scratchy yet comfortable cushions of the Hogwarts express, staring blankly out of the windows at trees and cow filled fields as they raced past her. She sat, not thinking of anything in particular as a familiar tune that had somehow wormed its way into her ear, hummed distantly in the back of her mind. Her fingers played absentmindedly with the yellow trim of her cardigan to distract herself from the small fly that was annoyingly buzzing around the cabin.

“So, what do you think Danvers? Me or Rodgers?” The voice of Bucky Barnes – Carols best friend who had the annoying habit of calling most of the population by their surname – brought her out of her daze and back to reality.

“Hmm?” Carol blinked and glanced at Barnes next to her and then across from her to the slightly frustrated looking skinny blond boy, then back to Bucky.

“Who is getting more OWLs? Me or Rodgers? Now I know you’re obviously going to say me but I need Stevie here to know you aren’t being biased.” He smirked and looked over at Steve, who rolled his eyes then looked at her.

“You know fine well Bucky’s gonna do the exact same thing he’s done every single year – skip most of his classes and act like he’s the coolest guy in school.” Carol was sure Steve had something else to add but he didn’t have the breath in his lungs to say it.

“I still ace every test, you’re just jealous Stevie.” Bucky stretched out his legs a little, playfully kicking Steve’s ankle as he did so, and slouched in his seat.

“He’s right Steve, Bucky’s never failed a test that wasn’t Divination.” Carol raised her eyebrows at Steve and shrugged, it was true after all, Bucky had miraculously never gotten a mark below 85%.

“Neither have you! I’m clearly the dumbest one in this cabin.” Steve sulked. He sulked often but he didn’t sulk for long, which made him more bearable.

“For the record…I passed Divination too.” Carol replied in a soft voice, a hint of sarcasm in her tone as she rearranged herself in a smug manner and smoothed out the small wrinkles in her skirt.

“You know, sometimes I don’t like you very much.” The skinny blond boy across from her crossed his arms, but the slight mischievous glint in Steve’s eye as he glanced at her told Carol that he didn’t mean anything by it.

The train entered a tunnel just seconds after that, plunging the carriage into momentary darkness. When light flooded it again, there was a short dark-skinned girl standing in the doorway looking irritated. Her braided hair flowing down the right side of her neck all the way down to her waist, she stood as steady as a rock like she always did.

“Who jinxed your face?” Bucky asked as Steve moved closer to the window to allow Val to angrily sit down next to him, dropping her feet onto the cushion by Bucky’s legs.

“Sam’s telling everyone I ‘stroked his wand’ in the toilets on the train journey home from school in June.” The exaggerated air-quotes made Carol snort. “I didn’t even do it! And if I did then I wouldn’t want him blabbing to the entire school!” Val let out a groan and held her head in her hands.

“Well did you or didn’t you?” Bucky teased, resulting in Val’s’ foot kicking him hard in the shin.

“That’s none of your fucking business.” Val muttered. “I can stroke whoever’s wand I want, doesn’t mean they get to tell everyone about it.”

“Men are pigs.” Carol smiled and looked out the window. They were just passing over the viaduct, it was her favourite part of the entire journey because it meant that they were only an hour away from the school. An hour away from her safe place, the only place she was herself, not that Carol didn’t like being at home – she loved her mother and her cat very much – but there was something about that castle that brought her the peace she couldn’t find at home. She hated to admit it but she even preferred staying during Christmas break, not that anyone who had stayed at the school during Christmas could argue with her. Carol had gotten herself into the habit of telling her mother that her workload got so immense around the holiday and she had to stay and study instead of returning home, not having the heart to tell her that she would just rather to stay at school over Christmas. That would be lame. Even for Carol.

“Where’s Parker anyway?” Bucky asked nobody in particular, Carol wasn’t even sure he expected an answer since he seemed particularly focused on the apparent staring contest he had entered with Steve, either that or the pair had locked eye contact for no reason whatsoever.

“I walked past him on my way here, he was sitting with MJ and some of the other Ravenclaws.” Val murmured, pulling a half-eaten bag of jelly slugs out of her trouser pocket and offering some to Steve, who took a green one but didn’t eat it, instead he fiddled with it absentmindedly.

“He needs to stop spending time with Ravens just to impress MJ, she knows fine well he’s a Hufflepuff just like the rest of us.” Bucky sighed, Carol knew he had a certain dislike for the Ravenclaws – mostly because he had been brought up to think that’s where he would be sorted into just like the rest of his family, not in Hufflepuff where the seemingly weak end up.

“I’m a Gryffindor, so is Val.” Steve added, blinking and sitting up straight in his seat, he was proud to be in Gryffindor because boys like him hardly ever were.

“We all know Gryffindor is the worst house Stevie, most of you are stuck up pricks. Carol and I were lucky not to end up there, weren’t we Danvers.” He turned his head to look at her, she caught his eye and saw him wink.

“I’ve never met a mean Hufflepuff, but I’ve met a lot of mean Gryffindors.” She begun; Bucky inhaled to begin to rub Steve’s nose in it but she interrupted him. “But I don’t think you should judge someone based on which house they’re in, that would be shallow.” Carol finished, leaving Bucky with nothing more to add and Steve and Val with smug looks on their faces, Steve triumphantly taking a bite of his jelly slug.

-

If there was one thing Carol had to pick as her favourite moment of the first day back at school, it would be the feast. Mountains of pies and potatoes and puddings facing her as she ate until she felt like vomiting. She sat with her back to the wall and the Ravenclaw table while facing the Gryffindors and the Slytherins, Steve and Val were sitting closer to the professors table so Carol couldn’t quite see them. Bucky sat across from her but wasn’t really paying attention to anything other than the plateful of food in front of him, Scott Lang clearly wasn’t getting the message and was blathering to Bucky about a 6th year Ravenclaw girl who had made eye contact with him on the train.

“Do you know her name Scott?” Carol asked Scott, feeling a need to interact with him since it was rare for anyone she knew to be this excited about something.

“No…and I haven’t spotted her in here either.” He frowned and picked at his chicken with his fork. “Maybe I just made her up.”

“I’m sure she exists Lang, stop being dramatic.” Bucky muttered chewing on his final sausage, his cutlery clattered on the plate and he exhaled loudly and straightened his back out.

“Stop being moody Bucky.” Carol’s stomach had decided that it was full and so she straightened herself out and looked sympathetically at her friend, who was looking more annoyed than usual. “What’s wrong?”

“I’m just…” He clicked his tongue. “I’m just stressed about exams already and we haven’t even started classes yet.” He sighed and rested his head in his hands, Carol’s heart melted for him and she reached a hand out and lightly stroked his arm and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“Well then I’ll help you out as much as you want. We can revise together.” He raised his head and smiled at her.

“You’re way too kind Danvers, its gonna get you hurt one day.” This comment was strange and out of place, it made Carol wonder if Bucky was actually stressed about exams or if there was something else that he wasn’t ready to talk about yet.

Throughout her first four years at Hogwarts, Bucky and Carol were inseparable. They had met in the same cabin on their first train journey, they sat together at the first feast after both were sorted into Hufflepuff, they were in every class together and spent Christmas break together every year. Of course, there had always been speculation the two were more than friends, but it was all false remorse. They were soulmates certainly, but the thought of being Buckys girlfriend made Carol laugh until her stomach burst and she was sure that he felt the same.

-

Snuggled into her favourite armchair in the Hufflepuff common room, Carol’s eyes were half focused on her new Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook and half focused on the rather intense game of wizard’s chess that the very competitive Bucky and Thor were playing on the floor beside her. Peter was sitting with his back against her chair and was scribbling potions notes on some parchment on the hardwood floor beside his leg, not even paying attention to the words he was writing.

“Careful Bucky, Odinson is dangerously close to trapping your king.” Carol turned the page and began a new chapter about incendiary spells as Bucky cursed under his breath.

“Give up now and I will let you keep your dignity.” Thor chuckled and stretched his back, Carol could practically hear the internal screaming of the group of girls on the other side of the common room as the sleeves of his shirt became tight against his skin and his many, many muscles.

“This isn’t fair! I’m exhausted! I’m barely paying attention.” Bucky whined, Carol even thought for a moment that he might flip the board, but then he sighed and pushed the falling strands of hair back off his face and sat up straight. “Fine. You win Odinson.”

“Victory is mine!” The large blond boy did a mocking winners dance with a large grin on his face before standing up at the same time as Bucky and enthusiastically shaking his hand. “You were a worthy opponent.” He chuckled.

“Well I think I’m going to call it a night after that crushing defeat.” Bucky rubbed the back of his head and looked to Carol. “G’Night everyone.”

“Wait, I’ll walk with you.” Carol forced herself out of the cosy nook she had created for herself and stood up before running her fingers through Peter’s brown curls underneath her, forcing him to tear away from his books. “Go to sleep soon Pete, gotta refresh that big brain of yours sometime.”

“I’ll make sure he goes to bed soon.” Thor assured, packing away his chess board and raising his hand in a still wave to say goodnight.

The ways to the Hufflepuff dormitories were right beside each other, the only difference was that the girls rooms were up a tight spiral staircase at the back of the common room and the boys beds were a few flights down a similar staircase. As the friends walked towards their respective dorms they were quiet, both tired from travelling yet strangely awake like all students were their first night back in the castle.

“So, are you going to tell me what the hell’s the matter with you or do I just have to work it out myself?” Carol broke the silence, tightening her grip on the textbook in her arms as she felt Bucky tense beside her as they came to a halt outside the staircases.

“You know what Danvers? I have no idea what you mean.” He looked right at her and Carol finally got a good look at the dark circles and bloodshot eyes she had been suspicious of since she first saw him that morning on the train.

“You haven’t been sleeping Bucky it’s obvious, you’re almost as bad as Peter.” He let out a breath that could have been a quite laugh but Carol wasn’t quite sure. “I’m serious Bucky. You really think I wouldn’t notice a change in you after five years of being your friend.”

“I haven’t changed.” Bucky replied in a small voice, god even his words sounded tired.

“You’ve let your hair get long. You always teased Thor for having long hair, you called him a hippy. And you’ve been quiet since we got off the train.” Barnes has always had short hair, ever since she had met him, he scoffed at her as she spoke.

“So just because I’ve let my hair grow and I’m not very chatty there’s something serious the matter with me? Christ sake Danvers stop being so dramatic.” His lips had widened into a smile but his eyes were certainly not happy.

“Don’t get angry with me just because you’re feeling rough. We’ve all got shit going on Bucky, I’m just trying to help you.” She said in a hushed voice, not looking at him anymore since she could feel tears pricking up behind her eyes. “I’ll see you at breakfast.”

She started up the stairs and towards the safety of her bed, she could hear him calling after her in a loud whisper a few times before he gave up and went to his own bed downstairs. Outside the dorm room door, Carol took five deep breaths and blinked furiously before entering.


	2. Chapter 2

Carol turned the page of the Daily Prophet and began skimming a page about the recent Asphodel shortage and quickly decided she didn’t care too much about it, potions was never her favourite class anyway. She lightly and absentmindedly tapped her foot against the stone floor as she put down the newspaper and began double checking the timetable that had been delivered to her when she first sat down for breakfast twenty minutes ago. The Slytherins on the far side of the hall were being rowdy as usual, but she had gotten used to their antics a long time ago.

“Mornin’.” She glanced up to see a tired looking Bucky Barnes suddenly sitting across from her, he had messily attempted to tie his hair up to keep it out of his face and hadn’t even bothered to do up his top button, this was not different from any other day.

“How are you feeling?” Carol avoided his eyes but she knew he was watching her, trying to determine how she was going to act towards him this morning after their miniature fight the night before.

“Good.” Her heart betrayed her and Carol softened without even trying, she looked up and gave him a small smile.

“What’s your first class then?” He began looking over his own timetable as he nibbled on the edge of some unbuttered toast – something that made Carol so repulsed she had to snatch it off of him and start buttering it herself.

“Defence Against the Dark Arts. You have Transfiguration first, I know because I sneaked a peak at your timetable, the only classes we have together is Divination and Charms.” She smirked and passed back the slice of toast, he smiled in thanks and took a large bite.

“Oh yeah sorry I assumed you would have, head isn’t working this morning I guess.” He shrugged before looking over his shoulder towards the Gryffindor table. When Carol followed his gaze, she spotted Steve smiling over to him as he sat beside Sam Wilson. She also noticed Val sitting on Steve’s left side looking moody, no doubt because of Wilsons presence.

“Why don’t you go over and say hello?” Carol suggested, slightly startling Bucky and making him clear his throat and turn back towards her.

“He’s with his Gryffindor friends, I’ll see him in my free period after lunch.” He took a sip of his orange juice and straightened his back.

“Val is your friend too; you need to stop judging people based on their house Bucky you’re starting to sound like a Slytherin pureblood.” She was aware that her comparison was slightly based on stereotypes but at least hers was true.

“Name one decent Gryffindor that’s not Steve or Val then.” He raised an eyebrow and she began mentally flipping through the rolodex of students in the lion house.

“Rhodey. You can’t deny he’s a good guy.” Carol replied triumphantly.

“He’s friends with Stark though, anyone who associates with that narcissistic asshole automatically loses points in my eyes.” Personally, Carol didn’t mind Tony Sark that much, not that they had spoken much.

“Well that gets rid of Pepper as well which I think is completely unfair, you know how sweet she is…” Determined to win the argument, her mouth spewed out the only Gryffindor in their year that she could remember. “What about Quill? He’s alright.”

“Which one’s that?” Bucky looked over his shoulder to see if he could see the boy Carol was speaking of.

“He’s dating that Slytherin girl in sixth year, with the green hair.” Checking her watch her heart jumped when she noticed that class started in only ten minutes and she had to walk all the way to the third floor (sounds easy but those stairs were a goddamn pain). “I have to run, see you at lunch?”

Carol didn’t even wait to hear Bucky’s response, though she was almost certain he said yes. Before he could she was half walking, half running out of the grand doors pulling her battered brown satchel higher up onto her shoulder. She even came very close to banging straight into Thor’s younger brother as she took the stairs two at a time, she mumbled a ‘sorry’ and carried on her ascent.

-

Almost slamming her satchel on the desk Carol sighed before turning to Peter, who was already sitting in his seat and had begun pulling a quill out of his bag.

“All I’m saying is you like her and she probably likes you too so why don’t you just ask her on a date into Hogsmeade or something? It’s really not that hard Pete.” Carol was careful not to mention MJ’s name during her conversation as she had passed the girl at the back of the room just a few seconds earlier. Setting her own quill on her desk and smoothing out her parchment, she began to mentally prepare herself for an hour and a half of the most boring class in Hogwarts – History of Magic.

Looking around, Carol noticed everyone else doing the same as her, all of them settling in for the most mind-numbing class any of them would have on their timetable that year. History of Magic was part of all student’s core curriculum until they entered their sixth year at Hogwarts, the only upside was that the course was a guaranteed pass. Looking around her fellow HoM students in her class that year she was surprised to notice a lot of her peers were known widely as ‘cool kids’ happened to be joining her, she quietly smirked to herself as she imagined Bucky’s HoM class which would be evidently full of quiet introverts. Then again, she couldn’t spot Steve in her crowd, meaning at least Bucky would have him to keep him company.

The group of her better liked peers were sitting on the opposite side of the classroom to her and Peter, Tony Stark and Natasha Romanoff were turning behind them to talk to Pepper Potts and James Rhodes aka Rhodey, the four of them barely aware of their surroundings as Tony very blatantly flirted with Pepper by charming her up a rose made of a spare sheet of parchment. Even Romanoff’s Slytherin housemate Gamora was in the class and the moment Carol had spotted her she made a mental note to tell Bucky she had remembered Peter Quill’s green haired girlfriends name when she saw him at lunch later on.

“Lower your voice Carol!” Peter nudged her with his elbow at their shared desk, an alarmed look painted on his boyish face.

“Calm down! I didn’t even mention her name.” Though she was becoming more and more tempted by the day, Peter had first spoken to Michelle Jones during the years first trip to Hogsmeade in their third year at Hogwarts. They had stood in line together in Dervish and Bangs and ever since the two had been awkwardly flirting with each other, it was getting exhausting to watch and frankly Carol Danvers was sick of it.

“Why don’t you ask her after class?” She suggested, knowing that the lunch hour began after this lesson so he really had no excuse not to.

“She’ll be with her friends then, and we don’t have another class together until DADA on Wednesday afternoon.” His voice dropped to an even quieter whisper as the Professor entered the room commanding silence from the students. “Even our free periods don’t match up.” He added to himself, rubbing his eyes in frustration before sitting up straight and focusing his gaze to the front of the classroom – the conversation was over.

The lesson was uneventful as always, it wasn’t always the subject matter that was boring (in fact Carol actually found some of it quite interesting) it was Professor Thaddeus Ross who made the class so mind-numbingly dull. The was his voice droned on and on and on as if it was an automatic recording created to bore war criminals to death. The only thing that kept her from tearing her own hair out was the constant reminders to herself that she had a free period after lunch that she could spend with her friends.

Hufflepuff’s and Gryffindor’s all shared free periods this year which was a relief to pupils and staff alike, last year the Gryffindor’s and Slytherins were paired for free periods and it ended it an all-out Hogwarts civil war. It was good for Carol too, considering the majority of her non-Hufflepuff friends were Gryffindor’s, then again – she only had two real out of house friends and that was Steve and Val.

Looking diagonally behind her for no reason other than sheer boredom, she spotted the redhead that was Natasha Romanoff whispering something apparently funny into Tony Starks ear before leaning beck in her seat. She was proud of her joke; you could see on her smug face; Carol rolled her eyes slightly and returned her vague gaze towards the Professor. Carol tried to see the best in people she really did, but the Slytherin crowd just rubbed her the wrong way for some reason. Most of them came from wealthy Pureblood families and gave the impression they thought they were the best things ever to come out of humanity, and if there was one thing Carol Danvers could not stand – it was an entitled snob. Sadly however, that described nearly every Slytherin she knew and that included Natasha Romanoff.

-

Walking into the Great Hall with Peter an hour and a half later, Carol looked around for Bucky. Surprisingly she couldn’t spot him in the crowd, she did however, lock eyes with a smiling Val sitting across from Steve at the table usually reserved for Hufflepuffs. Nudging Peter to let him know where they were going, she began walking over before he tapped her on the shoulder and stopped her.

“Tell them I say ‘Hi’ okay? I’m gonna go find MJ.” He said quietly.

“You gonna tell her how you feel?” She quizzed, leaning back on the balls of her feet and grinning slightly.

“No don’t be stupid, just going to ask her if she wants to eat outside with me.” There was a slight blush creeping onto his pale cheeks that Carol noticed before he quickly turned and walked towards the other side of the hall.

Steve moved his bookbag from the bench beside him so she could sit beside him and within a second of her skirt touching the wood, Carol was already tucking in to a ham sandwich that had appeared on the table in front of her.

“Where’s Parker off to?” Val asked, taking a bite of her own lunch – a salad with rather tasty looking croutons sprinkled on top. “Wait no, don’t tell me I already know, he’s going to eat with Jones.” She wiped a tiny bit of salad dressing from the corner of her mouth using the sleeve of her cardigan before chuckling to herself.

“Is Bucky not with you?” Steve asked, he didn’t have any food in front of him – Steve never seemed to eat lunch anyway.

“Nope I was in History of Magic, I think he had Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures this morning, that’s if I’m remembering his timetable correctly.” She said this with a hint of pride in her voice, her memory was always something she had excelled at.

“I know he had Transfiguration first I was in his class, he told me he’d meet me here at lunch.” Steve replied.

“Well it’s not unlike him to be late.” Val added nonchalantly. “He’s always late to everything.”

“Val has a point, though I wouldn’t be surprised if he skipped lunch to go have a nap, he looked exhausted this morning.” Finishing off her sandwich she stretched out her back and yawned.

“He can nap during free period.” Steve muttered to himself.

“He could, but you know he likes spending those with you, since you’re mostly with Sam during the week.” Val’s voice was full of poison and it became very clear that she wasn’t going to forgive Sam Wilson for spreading rumours about her anytime soon.

-

Bucky didn’t turn up for the rest of lunch and when it ended, the trio decided to go to the library to get ahead of some of their already approaching deadlines. They found a small table near the centre of all the bookshelves and began scribbling notes and planning essays, the stress of OWLS already hitting them.

“Be right back.” Carol whispered to her friends as she stood up and quietly walked through the aisles to try and find a book about the Giant Wars for her foot-long History of Magic essay due by the end of the month that she had foolishly decided to attempt to get a head start on. The history textbooks were all the way at the back corner of the library and students only ventured that far back in dire times of need, yet surprisingly there was already someone browsing the shelf when Carol reached it.

Natasha Romanoff was standing reading the spines of the dusty old books, startled by the rare appearance of another student she turned suddenly, locking eyes with Carol, before blankly turning back to the books without saying anything.

“You didn’t happen to see a book on the Giant Wars, did you?” Carol asked in a small voice, the redhead scared her and she gladly admitted it.

“No. That’s what I’m looking for.” There was a sense of urgency and impatience in her voice which wasn’t surprising, Slytherins were used to getting what they wanted when they wanted it.

“Didn’t really take you for a library type.” Carol attempted to make small talk, though as soon as she spoke, she regretted it as the other girl turned with a slightly wrinkled nose and a glare in her eyes.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Are you saying I’m stupid Danvers?”

Surprised Natasha even knew who she was, Carol’s words caught in her throat and she begin to stammer.

“Oh, oh no? I, I didn’t mean that! I, I just meant that, that I thought you would, um, rather spend your free time with your friends instead of in the library like me.” Carol let out a nervous and airy laugh and remembered that this wasn’t the Slytherin free period just as Natasha began speaking.

“I’m supposed to be in Arithmancy right now but that class is boring, though I’m sure you and your friends find it exhilarating.” She raised her eyebrows and feigned excitement before sliding out a book from the shelf. “That’s a shame. It’s the only copy here. Oh well! See you later Danvers.”

Natasha Romanoff bounced off towards the librarians’ desk, no doubt to check the book out for the rest of the year. Angry, Carol almost kicked the bookshelf before counting to five and running her fingers through her hair, her cheeks were red hot with frustration and embarrassment. Something about the Natasha got under her skin and irritated her very soul, and now she had prevented her from reading a book that could help her essay? Tears began to prick at the back of Carol’s eyes before she told herself to buck up and marked her emotional response to tiredness, she wasn’t going to let Natasha Romanoff affect her in any way.


End file.
